Eircom Price Gouging Effective 12 March. Get Out Of Contract Free

Sponge Bob

Eircom have just completed a customer mailshot warning of some price gouging effective for 'all bills issued from 11 May....meaning all calls made from 12 MARCH and Billed starting from 11 May. As eircom put it

"Customers Affected" may "Withdraw from Existing Contracts WITHOUT PENALTY" and that is between 11 Feb and 10 March INCLUSIVE

Furthermore quitting eircom in future requires 1 Month Written Notification If You Do Not Escape BEFORE the 11th of March.

You need not give written notice at present.

Most eircom customers now take a bundle rather than individual services. "Customers Affected" are anybody who makes a phone call at any time.

Given that the charges come into effect on the 12 March ANYBODY, particularly anybody, whether in a bundle or not, can now DROP eircom if they do not agree to the increased charges.

Here are the details.

1. Call set up fee ( minimum call charge) goes to 9.5c from 5.95c
2. Calls will be rounded UP to the nearest 1c
3. Out of hours packages will change. Out of hours call bundles (Talktime) are for calls made between 6PM and 7am Mon - Fri nowadays. This changes to 7PM for all bundles.
4. One month written notification, starting from date of RECEIPT, if you have not escaped their clutches before then.

Cantona's Collars

You beat me to it with this thread,at least anyone with substandard service from Eircom can cancel their contract without penalty.

Slippin Jimmy

I wonder will they offer something to stay with them?

watty

A service with a price increase.

Sponge Bob

By Mailshot I mean a direct marketing post to every home and business that has an eircom connection today. It should be at home waiting for ye

Do not accept ANY offer to stay with eircom SAVE where the pricing is agreed in writing. Their sales and retention people are some of the worst lying scumbags around.

Also demand that they email you confirmation of any verbal 'get out of contract' request you make between now and the 11/03 ....after which you must write to them.

Naturally they told NOBODY what the address is for the mandatory written disconnect request after that date and the LACK of a correspondance address in their mailshot is grounds for a complaint to Comreg and forcing eircom to do their mailshot properly .....ie AGAIN

Slippin Jimmy

Im on their 24 mb bundle with evening and weekend calls. Can anyone suggest a better alternative?

SamandFrank

Whats the alternative?? if eircom gets away with it so will everybody else. Is there any good broadband + phone alternatives other than UPC???

Sponge Bob

UPC ?

Slippin Jimmy

Sponge Bob wrote: »

UPC ?

Would love to be with upc, but I am in an apartment block that is only wired for sky. Upc aren't in my arartments, so I can only get DSL.

Baneblade

you can only withdraw from the phone service without penalty because of the change

broadband connections still require 1 months notice and you can be charged an early cancelation fee if still in contract

Xcellor

Will this have any impact on eircom wholesale? i.e. will resellers have to put prices up?

Slippin Jimmy

Baneblade wrote: »

you can only withdraw from the phone service without penalty because of the change

broadband connections still require 1 months notice and you can be charged an early cancelation fee if still in contract

Not true because it affects the price of the bundles. When you sign up, you sign up to a bundle, if you ring a landline outside the hours specified then you will be charged at the new rate and not the one I agreed to.

Sponge Bob

Duffff-Man wrote: »

Not true because it affects the price of the bundles.

Exactly, you cannot exit a standalone BB contact based on these changes but as most people are on bundles it affects the majority of eircom BB users.

Akrasia

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Eircom have just completed a customer mailshot warning of some price gouging effective for 'all bills issued from 11 May....meaning all calls made from 12 MARCH and Billed starting from 11 May. As eircom put it

"Customers Affected" may "Withdraw from Existing Contracts WITHOUT PENALTY" and that is between 11 Feb and 10 March INCLUSIVE

Furthermore quitting eircom in future requires 1 Month Written Notification If You Do Not Escape BEFORE the 11th of March.

You need not give written notice at present.

Most eircom customers now take a bundle rather than individual services. "Customers Affected" are anybody who makes a phone call at any time.

Given that the charges come into effect on the 12 March ANYBODY, particularly anybody, whether in a bundle or not, can now DROP eircom if they do not agree to the increased charges.

Here are the details.

1. Call set up fee ( minimum call charge) goes to 9.5c from 5.95c
2. Calls will be rounded UP to the nearest 1c
3. Out of hours packages will change. Out of hours call bundles (Talktime) are for calls made between 6PM and 7am Mon - Fri nowadays. This changes to 7PM for all bundles.
4. One month written notification, starting from date of RECEIPT, if you have not escaped their clutches before then.

Those sneaky bstards. They called me up the other day to try and get me to extend my contract.

Will be out of there like a shot first chance I get

oisin

Haven't got the mailshot yet, but it's timely for me. I upgraded to the 24MB bundle last year with six months of the contract to run. UPC have just upgraded my estate and I just got a letter from them this week saying all their services are now available. I thought I'd have to wait to switch, so it looks like I can move earlier than I thought.

the groutch

Sponge Bob wrote: »

2. Calls will be rounded UP to the nearest 1c

I'd question the legality of this

MinnyMinor

Sponge Bob wrote: »

3. Out of hours packages will change. Out of hours call bundles (Talktime) are for calls made between 6PM and 7am Mon - Fri nowadays. This changes to 7PM for all bundles. .

already 7 PM on one bundle, think its talktime chatter

Sponge Bob

The other thing you can do is get out of a 12 month contract WITHOUT ceasing the line. It means you break a current 12 month contract but agree to go month to month instead.

The current contract is the one eircom cannot hold you to...if you make any calls that is.

leftwinger

I have an eircom bb package, but also have eircom home watch which is a seperate contract but uses the landline. Would like to move to UPC . Any ideas as to how I can move to UPC without screwing up the homewatch ??

Freddie59

Dub45 anyone? Isn't he VERY quiet?:D

Kimbot

I rang them to cancel and they told me that because I am on the chatter package I will have to pay €370 to cancel... see my thread in the eircom forum for more details.

Sponge Bob

I would complain to Comreg immediately if they tried a €370 gouge on me.

_Kaiser_

So what are the decent DSL alternatives for non-UPC area people?

Wireless isn't an option as I'm renting so putting masts up etc is a no go - so I'm looking for something with a 7MB speed and unlimited/very high cap

Cheers!

dub45

Freddie59 wrote: »

Dub45 anyone? Isn't he VERY quiet?:D

I thought most people would be only too delighted at that?

byte

MinnyMinor wrote: »

already 7 PM on one bundle, think its talktime chatter

Yeah, I'm signed back to Eircom a fortnight ago, and it's 7pm alright.

MinnyMinor

byte wrote: »

Yeah, I'm signed back to Eircom a fortnight ago, and it's 7pm alright.

and will stay at 7 for the bundle i have i think it is the one i mnetioned earlier. can i ask who you went to and why you went back?

chrislynch8

Got my letter today. Quick question, does this mean I can just cancel my service over the phone. BB and Phone gone no more bills?

I will be doing this, but who to go with is the next question. I live outside Fermoy, Co Cork. WiMax are available but I need the External Install. Vodafone are available, but they seem to only be able to offer the same as Eircom BB speed wise.

cormie

Hmm, can anyone tell me how this may affect me? I signed up to a VERY good deal with eircom and I definitely don't want the hassle and cost of finding another provider.

8mb no contention, 30gb cap, 30 minutes free mobile calls per month, free local/national calls after 7pm (probably until 7am?) each evening. Free wireless modem for:

€26.52 a month for the first 10 months and then €51.78 (or close enough) for the remaining 2 months. INCLUDING LINE RENTAL!

This is the deal I'm on, the best offer available to my location by a mile.

However, once the 10 months are over, the €51.78 charge will be very high compared to what else is available, the plan was to cancel after the initial contract of 12 months, so I'd have paid 10x 26.52 and 2x €51.78.

So I wonder, if I cancel out of the contract now, will the monthly fee immediately rise fo €51.78, or stay at €26.52 until the 10 months are over, and then I'm free to walk away without having to pay the €51.78 for the last 2 months?

Also, if I don't cancel now, when should I write to cancel to stop the service after the 12th month? The beginning of the 11th month perhaps?

M cebee

what's the procedure then for swiching provider if you have a 'broadband bundle' and you're in contract

i got the letter about the charges

i'm on the 7mb with free calls anytime-it's a bit pricey imo

hightower1

dub45 wrote: »

I thought most people would be only too delighted at that?

What are your thoughts on this move by Eircom?
Do you feel it shows contempt for their customers by changing their contracts?
By redefining the very definition of what "evening time" is?

dub45

hightower1 wrote: »

What are your thoughts on this move by Eircom?
Do you feel it shows contempt for their customers by changing their contracts?
By redefining the very definition of what "evening time" is?

Companies are entitled to change their Terms and Conditions and there are usually clauses within their Terms and Conditions as to how this should be done in respect of notifying customers and the notice period involved.

When they receive the notice customers can then choose to take whatever action they wish.

Unlike your darling UPC who showed contempt for their own Terms and Conditions, E.C. regulations and Comreg requirments in this case Eircom seem to be giving their customers the required notice period.

Comreg of course confirmed this view of UPC's actions.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0202/1224288769135.html

Your beloved UPC attempted to sleepwalk customers into their price "changes". In this case Eircom customers won't be told that they have "tacitly" accepted the price increase as UPC customers apparently were being told according to reports on here.

vectra

chrislynch8 wrote: »

Got my letter today. Quick question, does this mean I can just cancel my service over the phone. BB and Phone gone no more bills?

I will be doing this, but who to go with is the next question. I live outside Fermoy, Co Cork. WiMax are available but I need the External Install. Vodafone are available, but they seem to only be able to offer the same as Eircom BB speed wise.

Where outside Fermoy are you?? I am in Fermoy and am with Vodafone "up to 8mb + Talk anytime for 52 per month"
When it is good it is excellent.. When it is slow it is shocking *which seems to be from Midday to Midnight recently*
I am hoping they can sort I may have to get them to explain to my solicitor exactly how my line/speed can be 7mb + during the night and 1mb- during the day using exactly the same equipment..:rolleyes:

What is this external Install for Wimax?? I was going to change to them but they never mentioned this to me..

chrislynch8

vectra wrote: »

Where outside Fermoy are you?? I am in Fermoy and am with Vodafone "up to 8mb + Talk anytime for 52 per month"
When it is good it is excellent.. When it is slow it is shocking *which seems to be from Midday to Midnight recently*
I am hoping they can sort I may have to get them to explain to my solicitor exactly how my line/speed can be 7mb + during the night and 1mb- during the day using exactly the same equipment..:rolleyes:

What is this external Install for Wimax?? I was going to change to them but they never mentioned this to me..

Clondulane - Had to get Eircom to get a line as Vodafone wouldn't do it and Imagine, called to the door a couple of weeks after signing up with Eircom, but I'm not very keen on the External Install from Imagine... This means that I am at a distance from the Mast where the internal Hub will not work, so its a receiver on the outside of the house to pick up the signal and then two cables into the house to the router, and I think they charge 150 for the install.

Where is the exchange in Fermoy?

hightower1

dub45 wrote: »

Companies are entitled to change their Terms and Conditions and there are usually clauses within their Terms and Conditions as to how this should be done in respect of notifying customers and the notice period involved.

When they receive the notice customers can then choose to take whatever action they wish.

Unlike your darling UPC who showed contempt for their own Terms and Conditions, E.C. regulations and Comreg requirments in this case Eircom seem to be giving their customers the required notice period.

Comreg of course confirmed this view of UPC's actions.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0202/1224288769135.html

Your beloved UPC attempted to sleepwalk customers into their price "changes". In this case Eircom customers won't be told that they have "tacitly" accepted the price increase as UPC customers apparently were being told according to reports on here.

UPC? I am asking about Eircon here like everyone else?

Interested in your views of this failing company that are loosing more and more market share every day. Seems like Eircon are making one mistake after another this being the latest by basically handing out get out of contract cards while at the same time loosing massive market share to their competitors.
No one tends to want to drop the ball but least of all when your already on a loosing streak.

dub45

hightower1 wrote: »

UPC? I am asking about Eircon here like everyone else?

Interested in your views of this failing company that are loosing more and more market share every day. Seems like Eircon are making one mistake after another this being the latest by basically handing out get out of contract cards while at the same time loosing massive market share to their competitors.
No one tends to want to drop the ball but least of all when your already on a loosing streak.

I am sure that Eircom dont give two hoots about my views on their business decisions.

As a consumer (but not an Eircom customer I might add) I am glad to see them complying with the necessary requirements for changing their Terms and Conditions. It makes a pleasant change as I am sure you are only too well aware?

irishjig69b

as an eircom worker i am sadden by these price hikes in this bad time's money wise for most off us.....and it now seems eircom will just shoot them selfs in the foot with this price hike.....i am now feed up with the price and the sneaky ways they do business....and i am going elsewere for my phone and bb service...i also feel that eircom is now on its knee's and will be shut down or a very small company indeed.....i dont no why they are doing this, alot of people are so pissed off they will just switch to vodafone or 1 or d other providers....and us a eircom the normal joe soap will be on the dole.....

D'Peoples Voice

please don't turn this into a UPC versus Eircom thread!
there are other threads for that....

But can someone confirm if these changes by Eircom
will have knockon effects to other providers
that lease the line from Eircom
provides such as a home phone from this shower..[URL] http://www.icecomms.net/home-broadband[/URL]

dub45

D'Peoples Voice wrote: »

please don't turn this into a UPC versus Eircom thread!
there are other threads for that....

But can someone confirm if these changes by Eircom
will have knockon effects to other providers
that lease the line from Eircom
provides such as a home phone from this shower..[URL] http://www.icecomms.net/home-broadband[/URL]

Not unless Eircom put up their wholesale rates I would presume.

These are increases from Eircom the isp.

vectra

chrislynch8 wrote: »

Where is the exchange in Fermoy?

"Elbow Lane" if you know it?

If not,
Then picture the rear of the Post Office..The lane by the "Mart Bar"

Nollog

Sponge Bob wrote: »

1. Call set up fee ( minimum call charge) goes to 9.5c from 5.95c
2. Calls will be rounded UP to the nearest 1c

lmao, does this mean a call set-up will actually be 10c?

Freddie59

D'Peoples Voice wrote: »

please don't turn this into a UPC versus Eircom thread![/URL]

Only one poster is at that (as usual!).;)

ShakyJ

My folks are currently with Eircom on the following package:

Eircom NGB Basic: 8Mb and eircom talktime talker.

If we cancel at the moment due to the current changes will my folks still have to pay a fee as calls are included in this package?

lucernarian

Freddie59 wrote: »

Only one poster is at that (as usual!).;)

Was that post necessary? Dub45 said nothing until someone questioned why he wasn't criticising eircom's moves. Also, I think the answer was obvious in that eircom have lived by existing regulations and their own Terms and Conditions. I reserve concern for eircom's moves to round up call costs.

I can't see where he's done anything wrong in this instance. The best people can do in response to eircom's decision is to look for an alternative.

Sponge Bob

/\/ollog wrote: »

lmao, does this mean a call set-up will actually be 10c?

No, however if you get a 3c a minute rate outside your bundle here is how it works.

1. Minimum charge is 9.5c so you paid for the first 3mins and 10 secs the minute the phone is answered. Cos that is what 9.5c buys at 3c a minute. Mkay !!!
2. As rounding applies you pay 9.5c + 0.5c rounding to 10c the minute your call duration hits 3 mins 11 secs.
3. No further charges apply until you hit 3 mins and 21 secs
4. Now you bust 10c the next rounding up is to 11c so the next 19secs are included free at which point you just bust 11c

Etc ad nauseum. I suppose you would call this lurching step billing

Freddie59

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

Was that post necessary? Dub45 said nothing until someone questioned why he wasn't criticising eircom's moves. Also, I think the answer was obvious in that eircom have lived by existing regulations and their own Terms and Conditions. I reserve concern for eircom's moves to round up call costs.

I can't see where he's done anything wrong in this instance. The best people can do in response to eircom's decision is to look for an alternative.

Not the point. The thread is about Eircom - not UPC.

cormie

Don't suppose anyone would like to take a guess at my question here?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=70609664&postcount=28

lucernarian

Freddie59 wrote: »

Not the point. The thread is about Eircom - not UPC.

Oh but it is. My point was; the post above about "one poster" talking about eircom vs UPC was not a fair post.

I saw nothing wrong with Dub45 making an accurate comparison between eircom and UPC, especially when for some unknown reason a couple of people wondered why he wasn't commenting in this thread.

If anyone feels a post is off-topic, surely the place to talk about that is in a PM with the mods or using the report button?

Freddie59

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

Oh but it is. My point was; the post above about "one poster" talking about eircom vs UPC was not a fair post.

I saw nothing wrong with Dub45 making an accurate comparison between eircom and UPC, especially when for some unknown reason a couple of people wondered why he wasn't commenting in this thread.

If anyone feels a post is off-topic, surely the place to talk about that is in a PM with the mods or using the report button?

Inevitably, any thread Dub45 is involved with ends up in some kind of slanging match against UPC. It is becoming extremely tiresome IMHO.

seimid

I am in a bundle that includes talk anytime uk and national with 30mins to mobiles free. I have tryed to cancel and they keep telling me I will have to pay 375 as the price increase does not effect me in any way. My argument is that it does after my 30mins to mobiles are used up my calls are now rounded to the nearest minute thats more expensive also my 30mins are no longer 30 mins as it is rounded to the nearest min so if I make 15 2sec calls thats my 30mins free used up, also to call directory enquires has incresed and the flat call rate for me to call my family abroad, how can they say the price hike is not affecting me?

Prisoner6409

So if one is stuck with Eircom what bundle do you guys think represents the best value for a std household, BB + Phone.

Sponge Bob

Last few days to escape the gouge. Remember you must give 30 days written notice to escape an eircom contract after the 11th of March